Strictly Come Dancing scoops best entertainment Bafta in 20th year

The series has been running for two decades.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman (Ian West/PA) (PA Wire)

Strictly Come Dancing won the best entertainment Bafta in its 20th year on the air.

Host Tess Daly celebrated the triumph, saying it was “the best birthday present” to mark two decades on the BBC.

The show first aired in 2004 as a new incarnation of the professional dancing show Come Dancing.

Collecting the gong, Daly said: “We are properly and genuinely overwhelmed.

“Thank you Bafta for making it worth putting on Spanx on the hottest day of the year.

Strictly defeated shows including Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas.

Ted Lasso and West End star Waddingham could be seen swigging from a hip flask as the camera cut to her.

Awards hosts Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan kicked off the ceremony by issuing stern instructions to the star-studded audience.

Beckett said: “We are back for a second year as hosts. There were a few mistakes made last year so if you win, we love a good acceptance speech – but keep it tight.”

Ranganathan added: “Actually don’t say anything at all.

“Producers, you can come up to the stage if you must, but please stand at the back and let the famous people talk.

“To the actors, it’s impossible to ‘fall in love with a script’ – you read it, you liked it and thought it would make you some money.”

Beckett continued: “If you have got to make a political point, remember we have got to follow you – so keep it light.”

Jasmine Jobson won the first award of the night when she picked up the best supporting actress Bafta for gritty gang drama Top Boy.

Accepting the award, she said: “Oh my goodness, my dress is making me slide everywhere.

“I don’t know what to say, I’m so overwhelmed, I was not expecting this.

“I just try to do what I do to change a life and save a life.”

Shouting out her niece, she said: “My baby girl, Auntie Jasmine did it, I did it! The girl finally brought it home.”

Beckett and Ranganathan looked bashful when their show Rob And Romesh VS won the comedy entertainment Bafta.

They joked that their production team was the slowest to depart the stage after accepting the prize with them, despite the hosts’ instructions during their opening monologue that all winners should keep their speeches brief.

Mawaan Rizwan won the Bafta for best male performance in a comedy for his role in Juice.

Accepting the award, Rizwan said: “I want to thank the people in my life who go un-thanked; my partner, my bestie.

“I’m so not boundaried as a person, so thank you for putting up with me and giving me the support you do.”

He also thanked the team who made the series, saying: “You lot believed in me, so thank you for making that happen.”

Ending on a joke, he said: “And thank you to my therapist – we had a conversation last week where we said I had to stop relying on external forms of validation.”

Gbemisola Ikumelo won the female performance in a comedy Bafta for Black Ops.

Collecting the award, she encouraged the audience to repeat her call of “Good is good,” and said: “That is how you know diversity is working!”

She also joked her agent would be telling her next employers: “Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.”

Squid Game: The Challenge won the reality Bafta, while The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 won the award for live event coverage.

Waddingham, who co-hosted the contest in Liverpool, accepted the trophy, saying: “The week we had this time last year was, I know for everybody here, the most exceptional, stressful week but so fabulous.”

True crime series The Sixth Commandment, about the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin, won the limited drama Bafta, while the current affairs award was given to The Shamima Begum Story.

Channel 4 News’s Inside Gaza: Israel And Hamas At War won the news coverage award.

Journalist Matt Frei dedicated the award to all the journalists who have been killed covering wars this year.